What Disasters Should You Be Prepared For

Preparing For Disasters

Whether you live in an urban or rural location there’s always a chance that disaster may strike. The question is what disasters should you be prepared for? Both Natural and man-made disasters can have terrible effects on any population or community. Aside from the emotional trauma associated with experiencing a disaster. The aftermath can render you without access to a fresh water supply, cause total loss of power, cause medical issues, spread disease and more.

Where Do I Start?

The first step to deciding upon what disasters you should be prepared for is to think about the different types of disaster that can happen and which of those have a higher chance of happening to you. Do some research and take some time to think about the types of disasters that the area you live and work in is prone to. These types of disaster will most likely be of the natural kind and there should be plenty of historical information available as to what has happened in the past and if it could happen again.

For example, If you live in Florida you should prepare for hurricane season. If you live in an area prone to ice and snow storms you should prepare for this. The area in which you live could be prone to earthquakes or floods If any of the aforementioned disasters regularly occur in your geographical location on a regular basis these are the ones you should focus on first.

What Types Of Disasters Should You Be Prepared For?

There are two main types of disaster the first being natural disasters and the second is man-made disasters.

Natural Disasters

Mother nature can be cruel, I’m no scientist but it appears to me that natural disasters seem to be on the increase. Here is a list of common natural disasters you may want to be prepared for.

Hurricanes

Tsunamis

Sink Holes

Pandemic

Earthquakes

Tornado’s

Floods

Volcanos

Snowstorms

Land Slides

Wild Fires

EMP

Man Made Disasters

Man-made disasters are of our own making either intentionally or by accident. Think about any potential man-made disasters that could occur where you live and work. For example, if you live close to a nuclear power plant, you should think about a way to evacuate quickly if something goes wrong. If you have a water dam nearby you’re going to need to be prepared for any potential flooding if the dam breaks. Here is a list of potential man-made disasters.

Nuclear Explosion

Terrorist Explosions

Cyber attacks

Chemical Threat

Biological weapons

Civil unrest

Power Outages

Your Emergency Preparedness Plan

Once you have listed the types of disasters that could happen in your locality and those that you also want to additionally prepare for. You need to make an emergency preparedness plan for each of these scenarios.

Your emergency preparedness plan will cover the survival kit and supplies you will need to survive and your plans for staying at home (Bugging In) Or Evacuating (Bugging Out).

Consider what you would do if one of these disasters did strike. Do you want to make preparations for staying at home and riding it out? Or do you want to evacuate/bug out immediately? Even if you plan to stay it’s a good idea to have an evacuation plan in place. Bear in mind that sometimes these decisions could be out of your control for example in the event of a mandatory evacuation.

If you were forced to evacuate consider where you would go, do you have family or friends you could stay with? If not think about how you would escape the danger zone.

Where would you go?

Where would you stay?

How would you travel?

Don’t just rely on plan A, have a plan B and maybe even a plan C as well. Research potential areas you may want to evacuate to, do your research so you don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire. Disaster situations can escalate extremely quickly so you need to think about these things now because you won’t have time when disaster strikes.

What Disasters Should You Be Prepared For Summary

The disasters you prepare for will be specific to your geographical location, climate, and your personal concerns. Give thought to what is best for you and your family. Whilst some of the kit and supplies you need will be the same some will be different. It’s a good idea to make a separate plan for each disaster scenario. It’s extremely important to think this all through now so that you can separate your kit into grab and go bags for one or more situations.

To fully answer the question what disasters should you be prepared for you must research the effects of each scenario you are preparing for. There is plenty of helpful information out there and you can also check out our Prepper Resources Section for access to free checklists and downloads as well as links to prepper websites.

GDAC Alerts

Courtesy of GDACS cooperation framework between the United Nations, European Commission & disaster managers worldwide to improve alerts & information exchange in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters. www.gdacs.org